"After burning Rome, Emperor Nero decides to blame the Christians, and
issues the edict that they are all to be caught and sent to the arena.
Two old Christians are caught, and about to be hauled off, when Marcus,
the highest military official in Rome, comes upon them. When he sees
their stepdaughter Mercia, he instantly falls in love with her and frees
them. Marcus pursues Mercia, which gets him into trouble with Emperor
(for being easy on Christians) and with the Empress, who loves him and
is jealous."

In 1932, DeMille straddled the line between vice and virtue in the pre-production code epic The Sign of the Cross.
The film attracted huge audiences by displaying the stereotypically
lavish bacchanalian excesses of Ancient Rome, including orgies, nudity,
and suggested lesbianism, all the while insisting that such
"depravities" were a scourge on society. One of the most notorious
scenes includes Hollywood star Claudette Colbert bathing in a giant tub
of asses’ milk.

Lyrics from "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel:

When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.

(notable versions of this song sung by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis, Doris Day among others)

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I had one television goal this summer: to watch every
episode of “Community”. It all started when a good friend of mine praised
“Community”’s bizarre references. He
explained how Troy (Donald Glover) is obsessed with LaVar Burton from “Reading Rainbow”. I was intrigued, as I loved
“Reading Rainbow” almost as much as I love outdated pop culture references. Needless
to say, I became hooked and managed to finish my summer goal. For those of you
not familiar with “Community,” the series is about a study group at a community
college: Greendale Community College. The premise sounds vaguely boring, but
the writing is not and the main characters (or the “Greendale Seven”: Jeff
Winger (Joel McHale), Britta
Perry (Gillian Jacobs), Abed
Nadir (Danny Pudi), Shirley
Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown),
Annie Edison (Alison Brie),
Troy Barnes and Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy
Chase)) keep it interesting. “Community” also features comedian Ken Jeong as Ben Chang, the
teacher turned campus security guard, and Jim Rash as the cross dressing
Dean Pelton. Regularly featured on "Community" are themes of friendship and
personal growth along with paintball, Kentucky Fried Chicken, role-playing and
mock trials. Because of the show’s unique sense of humor, it tends not to be
palpable to all audiences and has garnered low ratings. However, “Community” hasn’t
completely escaped creative recognition as it was nominated for one Emmy and
won another. This year, writer Chris McKenna, was nominated for an Emmy for writing “Remedial Chaos
Theory", which was an episode that contained seven alternate timelines. In
2011, Drew Hodges won an
animation Emmy for "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" in which the entire
episode is done in stop animation. It’s the creativity of unconventional story
telling that sets “Community” apart and has afforded it passionate fans who
have fought to keep it on the air. While “Community”’s humor may be bizarre, it is oddly accessible in a way that
makes it unlike any show on television. Viewers might not be able to relate to
exact scenarios on the show, but fans know it’s the sentiment behind them that
counts. For example, in recalling the LaVar Burton episode, Troy’s choice in a
hero might be strange (no offense to Mr. Burton) but anyone can relate to the
idea of not wanting to be disappointed in meeting their hero. Troy says, "I've told Pierce a thousand times, I never wanted to meet LeVar in
person! I just wanted a picture! You can't disappoint a picture!"Despite what I have said thus far about “Community,” I found
the third season finale, "Introduction to Finality,"
to be somewhat blasé (no dance numbers?!). The finale neatly tied-up loose ends
(for example, the air conditioning repair school is now part of the main school
and Troy is officially back in the group), introduced some “new” faces
(Starburns is still alive and perhaps Evil Abed will now be making cameos?) but
it seems that with everything going on in the episode (the battle for Shirley’s
sandwich shop, Evil Abed’s therapy sessions, the death of Vice Dean Laybourne , the
challenge in the Sun Chamber, etc.), it lacked focus and cleverly crafted
jokes. Although "Introduction to Finality," was not one of my favorite episodes,
I was still left feeling the same way I always feel about the Greendale
Seven, that they can overcome any obstacle, perhaps even if that obstacle is
the departure of the show’s creator, Dan Harmon. It appears that Dan Harmon learned
he was fired just as it hit the press. The summary of the argument between Harmon and Sony boils down to artistic
vision v. money and ratings.
Harmon has been replaced by David GuarascioandMoses Port who are best known to
me as the people who attempted to produce a terrible American version of one of
my favorite British television shows, “The IT Crowd” (if you haven’t seen the
UK version, do yourselves a favor). They also produce “Happy Endings” which is
an awesome show (also, do yourselves a favor, see it).The fans wonder
(worry) what the next season will be like without the show’s
creator. Do we attribute the show’s
quirky humor to Dan Harmon? To the cast? Good writers? Does the firing of Dan
Harmon signal a directional change for “Community”? At Comic Con, Guarascio assured fans “The only thing we care about is
keeping it this weird, wonderful gem that it's always been. That's not gonna
change." And if the pictures for the season 4 premier are any indication, it looks like
they’ve kept their promise. What are those unicorns about?! I love unicorns. And the Dean's costumes.

The description of the first two episodes of season 4 have
already been released
and the premier will feature a “Hunger Games” tribute (yes, Entertainment
Weekly and I used the word “tribute” on purpose.
The title of the premier, “History 101,” could refer to the characters’ past
and possibly another indication to the fans that there will not be a severe
alteration to the characters, themes and tone we have come to know and love. Joel McHale claims that the season premier contains “an homageto something that kids
in the late ’80s and early ’90s watched on Saturday mornings.” (“Double Dare”? Please be referencing "Double Dare") The description for the second episode brings the group
to Pierce’s mansion on Halloween. The combination of an epic Halloween hunt and
Pierce’s family background could be hilarious. The bar is
high, however as “Community” has already displayed noteworthy Halloween episodes
which include a zombie outbreak and a round of horror stories that examine the groups homicidal tendencies.
The setting for episode two brings me particular delight as Pierce’s peculiar
family background was the subject of one of my favorite episodes entitled "Digital Estate Planning" in which the group has to play a video game (with 8-bit video consoles) in the
battle for Pierce’s inheritance (which featured the flawless Giancarlo Esposito as Pierce’s brother who will be returning for Season 4). Jeff’s dad (played by James Brolin)
will be making an appearance as well this season, and I can only hope that
means we will learn more about the characters’ families.

Only 13 episodes have been ordered and, after some delay, Community returns February 7th at 8/7c on NBC... that is the brightest timeline! Here’s
to six seasons and a movie…Go Human Beings!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

The french song playing in the common room on "American Horror Story" is "Dominique" by The Singing Nun (also known as "Soeur Sourire" (Sister Smile) aka Jeanine Deckers). The song was a hit in 1963, becoming number one and selling 1.5 million copies. The Singing Nun was a sister of the Dominican Order who became increasingly critical of Catholic doctrines and became a public advocate for contraception. She was rumored to be a lesbian and her and her companion of ten years (Annie Pecher) both committed suicide by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol in March 29, 1985.

"Deckers led a pretty interesting life. As this UK Express story
explains, she eventually left the church to live with her female
partner, with whom she eventually engaged in a suicide pact. The piece
also notes that Deckers was the daughter of a baker (interesting)
and contains this quote from writer Joe Queenan about the meaning of
the song “Dominique”: “The song would have us believe that St. Dominic
was a humble, lovable monk who fought valiantly against the forces of
darkness. In fact he founded the religious order that brought mankind
the monstrous Spanish Inquisition.”

Monday, October 22, 2012

A fan suggested I look up videos of Mimi Imfurst doing local gigs (since I could barely remember her on the show, and I re-watched the first part of her season and there wasn't much to go on). I found this! Although, most of what I found on youtube was related to her band Xelle.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I was honestly very excited about all of the contestants and had no idea about who I would add to the cast (although, Cam did have some preferences). Pandora Boxx and Chad Michaels are my favorites (top three are Chad Michaels, Nina Flowers and Pandora Boxx) so I was quite pleased. I think the reason I love Chad Michaels so much is because I love Cher (so I love that he loves Cher).

Information on the clips and images we referenced in the preview can be found on LogoTV.

The contestants are split fairly evenly over the seasons, which I also appreciate. I did mention that Mimi Imfurst was a surprise since she was in 11th place and I barely recalled her.

Teams:

Team Latrila (Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon)
Team Yarlexis (Alexis Mateo and Yara Sofia)
Team Mandora (Mimi Imfurst and Pandora Boxx)
Team Rujubee (Raven and Jujubee)
Team Shad (Shannel and Chad Michaels)
Team Brown Flowers (Tammie Brown and Nina Flowers)

First two episode descriptions:

Episode 1 - It Takes Two

Twelve All Stars arrive to compete for $100,000 and a chance to
become the first inductee into RuPaul’s Drag Race Hall of Fame. In the
season premiere, the queens have to produce high fashion editorial photo
spreads.

Episode 2 - RuPaul’s Gaff-In

The queens find themselves battling for laughs while impersonating
their favorite celebrities on “RuPaul’s Gaff-In” with Vicki Lawrence’s
“Mama”, who is joined on the judge’s panel by actress Busy Phillips.

Vicki Lawrence (who we talked about) is actually "Mama" from "Mama's Family". I LOVE her on Mama's family, and I didn't recognize her name at first, but I saw promotional pictures of her for Drag Race All Stars and she looks amazing!

Hello All,
This blog was created as a response to the "RuPaul's Drag Race" after show on AfterBuzz TV. I will include supplemental material here, answer questions and hopefully clarify missing points.
As this is my personal blog, it is sanctioned by no entity other than myself. Thus, I hope to add some non "Drag Race" related material.
xoxo,
Jacque